Daily Devotional

Notice something important about this passage: these were good people making wrong assumptions. The Israelites weren’t being malicious or evil. They genuinely cared about God’s holiness and the covenant community. They remembered what happened at Peor when Israel flirted with idolatry, how 24,000 people died in a single day. They were trying to protect the purity of worship and the unity of God’s people.

And yet, they were completely wrong.

This should humble us. If godly, well-intentioned people like the Israelites could misinterpret a situation so drastically, how much more should we be cautious about our own interpretations? Good motives don’t guarantee correct conclusions. Sincere concern doesn’t equal accurate understanding.

Think about the Israelites’ mindset. They saw an altar and could only conceive of one explanation: these tribes were setting up their own place of worship, violating God’s command. Why else would you build an altar? It seemed so obvious. The evidence was right there. An altar of imposing size. What other interpretation could there possibly be?

But here’s the problem: they were interpreting the eastern tribes’ actions through their own framework. They assumed the eastern tribes thought like they thought, valued what they valued, and meant what they would have meant by building an altar. They didn’t stop to consider that there might be an entirely different explanation.

The same thing happens in our marriages and relationships. We interpret our spouse’s behavior through our own lens and reach conclusions that feel absolutely certain. We think, “This is obviously what’s happening. There’s no other explanation.” But often, we’re missing crucial information.

Biblical counselor Joanna Presley identifies three ways we interpret challenging behaviors: through bad (assuming sin), through broken (assuming disorder), or through beloved (assuming legitimate differences or needs). The Israelites were interpreting through “bad,” assuming rebellion and idolatry. They never considered that the altar might represent something entirely different, something good and honoring to God.

How often do we do the same? We see behavior that confuses or hurts us, and we immediately interpret it through “bad” (they’re being selfish, rebellious, ungodly) or through “broken” (something’s wrong with them that needs fixing). We rarely stop to interpret through “beloved,” assuming that there might be a legitimate need or difference we don’t yet understand.